Hey everyone,

You know how you get sometimes when you are sick of cooking the same old thing for dinner week after week. Well, yesterday I was trying to decide what I wanted to cook for dinner and I started thinking about what I would order if I went out to a restaurant. 

There is a restaurant here in Atlanta that makes a really good Chicken Francese.  I almost started drooling just thinking about it.  It’s cooked in a very light lemony wine butter sauce and it’s really good.  After thinking about it for a few minutes, I knew I was going to have to have it for dinner or I would never get it out of my mind.

The problem is that I didn’t want to take the time to drive all the way to the restauant since it’s not located very close to where I live. So, I started searching on the internet for a good recipe.   Yeah, I was going to attempt to do it myself, that is how determined I was to satisfy my taste buds.   After dismissing a few recipes I found in the search (recipes with more than about ten ingredients just make my eyes cross), I found this one on the Food Network site.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe I found.  The original recipe called for boneless chicken breast and then provided instructions on pounding them to a quarter inch thickness.  I am all about optimizing my time, so I just purchased thin sliced chicken cutlets that were already the 1/4 inch thickness required.

In addition, instead of the full amount of chicken broth, I substituted half of the broth with water.

And, let me tell you, I was very pleased with the end result. It was every bit as good as what I get at the restaurant. It was so good, I fear I probably ate a little more than I should have and I knew I needed to put this recipe on our site to share with everyone.

So, here it is.  Enjoy and be sure to stay cool, hip and dry! 

Chicken Francese

Ingredients:

• 1 Lb. Thin-Cut Chicken Breasts
• All-purpose flour for dredging
• Kosher salt/Black pepper
• 4 Lg Eggs
• 3 Tbs Water
• Cup EVOO
• ½ Lemon, with rind, cut in thin rounds
• ½Cup Dry white wine
• 1 Cup Chicken broth
• ½ Lemon, juiced
• 2Tbs Unsalted butter
• ¼Cup Chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

• Put flour in a shallow platter and season with a fair amount of salt and pepper; mix with a fork to distribute evenly.
• In a wide bowl, beat the eggs with 3 tablespoons of water to make an egg wash.
• Heat the oil over medium-high flame in a large skillet.
• Dredge both sides of the chicken cutlets in the seasoned flour, and then dip them in the egg wash to coat completely, letting the excess drip off.
• When the oil is nice and hot, add the cutlets and fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden, turning once. Remove the chicken cutlets to a large platter in a single layer to keep warm.
• Toss the lemon slices into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until fragrant.
• Add the wine, broth, and lemon juice.
• Simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the sauce slightly.
• Roll the butter in some flour and add it to the skillet, this will thicken the sauce.
• Stir to incorporate and dissolve the flour.
• Reduce the heat to medium-low and return the chicken to the pan; place the lemon slices on top of the cutlets.
• Simmer gently for 2 minutes to heat the chicken through.
• Season with salt and pepper and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.